Entertainment

It's time for 'The Simpsons' to end. Matt Groening just showed us why.

The Simpsons needs to die. Matt Groening, the show's creator, made that abundantly clear this week.

Groening sat down to chat with USA Today about the show's decades-long run in an interview published Friday. At one point, the conversation turns to the character of Apu, who has been the target of criticism in recent months for his problematic portrayal on the show.

Asked if he had any response to the criticisms raised in The Problem With Apu and after its release, Groening delivered a less-than-stellar answer.

"Not really," he said. "I’m proud of what we do on the show. And I think it’s a time in our culture where people love to pretend they’re offended."

He wants the show to "speak for itself," he said. That happened already, but — much like Groening's chat with USA Today — it wasn't much of a response.

"I think it’s a time in our culture where people love to pretend they’re offended."

Many fans felt let down earlier in April when the show addressed the Apu controversy head-on, sort of. It starts with Marge reading Lisa an old bedtime story that's been updated for a more politically correct age. Lisa isn't a fan.

"Something that started decades ago and was applauded and inoffensive is now politically incorrect. What can you do?" As she finishes her comment, the camera pans over to a framed photo of Apu.

"Some things will be dealt with at a later date," Marge responded. "If at all," Lisa added, as both turn and look directly into the "camera."

For longtime fans who have known what it is to love The Simpsons and just want the show to do better, it's a heartbreaking moment. The scene seems to make it clear that people working on the show don't understand what the problem with Apu really is.

As Mashable's Proma Khosla wrote in response to the episode: "In 2018, what the Simpsons creative team must face is the legacy of their creation; the generation of South Asian artists and children of immigrants who answered for Apu every single day. Dismissing the concerns of people who used to feel invisible is exactly the wrong thing to do (and not a good look)."

Let's restate the key bit here, with added emphasis: "Dismissing the concerns of people who used to feel invisible is exactly the wrong thing to do."

Groening's contention that all the criticism is coming from people that "love to pretend they're offended" isn't just wrong, it's openly toxic. It's gaslighting. He's trying to convince us that this legitimately offensive thing isn't actually offensive.

He even doubles down on the idea later in the interview, when he addresses the show's early controversy. Way back in the '90s, when The Simpsons was still young, Bart was a hot-button topic. His bad behavior could influence IRL kids in unacceptable ways, the naysayers said.

"I felt that the controversy at the beginning of the show was, again, people pretending to be offended by Bart’s very mild sassiness," Groening explained. That's just how society works. People in 2018 get a kick out of being offended, just like they did 25 years ago. Don't have a cow, man.

It's an apples-to-oranges comparison, and a more than mildly offensive one. Bart was a hot-button topic because The Simpsons was an edgy primetime cartoon series in an era when such things were still new and unknown. The controversy surrounding him was an alarmist take: Bart was a poor role model.

Apu presents a completely different kind of problem. He was created during a less politically correct era, yes. By the time society started to really look inward and consider the under-discussed sources of toxicity in popular entertainment, his schtick was already well-established.

But as The Problem With Apu makes abundantly clear, the fact that the character's offensive portrayal wasn't widely discussed during those earlier years didn't also mean it wasn't harmful. Apu's characterization had a very real, very traceable negative impact on a large cross-section of people.

The sense from Groening's USA Today comment is he either didn't watch the documentary or he doesn't care about the issues it raises. It may well be both. For the creator of a show that has often been heralded as a barometer for modern pop culture, that's a huge problem.

Especially since it's a feeling that seems to be shared by the current Simpsons showrunner, Al Jean. A longtime behind-the-scenes player on the show, Jean stepped up on social media earlier this month to defend Apu after the above-mentioned episode aired. His oft-repeated contention is that Apu's positive, nuanced portrayal in the past absolves the show of any guilt.

Much like Groening, Jean missed the point. Here's Proma again: "When The Simpsons began, Apu became a catchall for South Asians and South Asian Americans, many of whom were stereotyped or teased and associated with the character. Instead of acknowledging that, The Simpsons team appears to be stubbornly looking in the other direction."

Two of the top creative forces behind The Simpsons can't see what's wrong here. They can't understand why "but he's a good character!" is a deflection rather than an explanation. They seemingly can't fathom a world in which The Simpsons makes and then perpetuates for decades a horrible mistake.

They're tuned out. Where The Simpsons was once an incisive portrait of modern-day pop culture, it is now little more than a parody of its former self. A money-making brand that chugs along for no other reason than "it's the longest, ever."

Groening's comments make that truth abundantly, painfully clear. He claims to not see "any end in sight" for the 30-year-old series, but ironically, his comments on Apu make the strongest case yet that the time has come for The Simpsons to finally die.

Mashable
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